1. Field of Invention:
The present invention relates to supersonic aircraft. Specifically, it relates to a supersonic aircraft referred to herein as the HyperMach Hypersonic Hybrid Business Jet (HHYBJ), VVIP Class design, SonicStar, and its unique structural, geometrical, electromagnetic, mechanical, thermal and aerodynamic configuration. Its novel design characteristics maximize aerodynamic performance, speed, efficiency, comfort, and range in the operational affect of carrying passengers over long distances at very high flight speeds and Mach numbers, generally above Mach 4.0+.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
For decades, the development of economically and environmentally acceptable supersonic aircraft and hypersonic spacecraft has been identified as a key step toward the next generation of aerospace the and future development of 21st Century travel that could improve many aspects of human life and accelerate the fostering of global economic growth. The partial consensus view of prospective manufacturers of supersonic aircraft, not alone a hypersonic hybrid business jet aircraft such as proposed in the invention here of SonicStar, is a near-term-realizable class of aircraft which would have significant economic potential and with an estimated market of at least 200 aircraft over a 15-year period. The key technology barrier for this class of aircraft is the combined utility of very high speed and efficient propulsion engines and the elimination, or reduction to acceptable levels of the sonic boom for flight over land.
Simultaneously it provides a design to meet performance metrics and requirements of the other major disciplines to make an aircraft of this type a reality and economically viable. This essentially means that all major disciplines including aerodynamics, aerotheramodynamics, structures, stability and control, mission, and propulsion systems should be taken into account from the early stages of the design process; and therefore, boom reduction must be considered as a major variable and key enabling technology.
The impact of these design constraints must be handled on the front end of the design process in the conceptual refinement area, and proceeding into detail design with the appropriate multivariate analysis software design tools.
Due to the multivariate design approach required in hypersonic air vehicle and aircraft design, and a business jet design to attain these speeds never having been done before, effective and practical very high speed flight regimes are very difficult to achieve both in a pragmatic sense and in the superlative sense from the position, of passenger safety, performance and certification, and a next generation design to operate on a successful business model in order to commercialize such a design, is such a that in such a type of aircraft. Ultimately to benefit from profitability is the goal when simultaneously refining multiple technical design factors, and reducing technological risks as major contributors to a successful and marketable supersonic business jet design.
Hypervelocity flight requirements are demanding on aircraft with flight missions and design envelopes which exceed Mach 1.0 and doubly difficult when design points for speeds above Mach 2.0 are to be achieved, and are required simultaneously with effective ranges. Above Mach 3.5+ the design challenges become so significant to the standpoint of refinement that the engineering, challenge must be handled as a multivariate problem, and at a Mach 4.0+ design cruise mission the interaction of the new physics challenge (air becomes a plasma flow field interfacing directly with the material world or metal of the aircraft) now the challenge has tripled in complexity and challenge compared to a Mach 2.0 cruise, or Mach 3.0 cruise design scenario, compared to a Mach 4.0+ design scenario.
As speeds rise in aircraft designs to trim flight times over long ranges in consideration of speeds in excess of Mach 3.0+ and service ceilings above 60,000 feet the physical effects on the airframe become problematic from aerothermodynamic heating, subsequently the drag generated, and the heating of the airframe from the air in which the aircraft is passing through. Drag increases in the square of the speed, as speed doubles, drag increases at a three-fold rate, to the cube. Simultaneously, aircraft designed to travel at these speeds generate shock waves from the nose rearward of the aircraft and these shock waves than in trains and coalesce, pro mating to the ground causing sonic booms.
Research and development in aircraft configurations for very high speed flight has been conducted by major international institutes and aircraft companies over the years, but none have addressed the benefits sit flight speeds to be sustained at Mach 4.0 and above in atmospheric conditions (up to 90,000 feet). This is because, until now, there was no air breathing engine design that could maintain these flight speeds and breath, and there was no alternative answer in terms of technology to the issue of sonic boom. Nor was there innovative technology to meet the technical challenges required to be addressed successfully to overcome the challenges of flying at these speeds over a sustained period. It is at this point that the present invention of the HyperMach SonicStar Mach 4.0 HHYBJ aircraft has configuration, aerodynamic and structural attributes and uniqueness in its airframe design which will welcome in a whole new era of high speed commercial transport, setting it apart from any other aircraft yet to be conceived over the next 20-30 years.